Main menu

The Official Blog of Author James Fadeley

Chaos Music Tributes: Khorne

For the rest of this and next week, I’ll be adding new music selections I call the Chaos Tributes. Again this is with the music for writing series, but these will have lyrics involved. The musical choices reflect great songs and music for writing about certain aspects of Chaos, as well as a little food for thought.

Today’s beast is Khorne, god of war, bloodshed, violence and hatred. Khorne is said to be the most powerful of the Chaos gods, being the oldest and most representative of the Warhammer universe. A quick glance at Khorne makes him appear to be a one dimensional god, as he cares not from whom the blood flows so long as it flows.

It is sometimes said that Khorne overlooks the weak, considering it dishonorable to kill them. But like any theology, this view of Khorne is subject to great personal interpretation or even straight denial.

However, a second and closer glance at Khorne create certain discrepancies and depth that are overlooked. Normally, Khornite followers are considered murderous psychopaths. But there are examples of thought and conviction in some of his followers. In Blood for the Blood God, Khorne followers were coherent and capable warriors. In the Gaunt’s Ghost series, the Blood Pact are a highly disciplined, Khorne worshiping army capable of infiltration tactics. These examples fly in the face of the crazy homicidal maniac stereotype.

What makes it even more difficult is understanding Khorne’s relationship with psykers. Many believe that when the World Eater’s legion turned, they slaughtered all their librarian/sorcerers in a purge out of respect for their new god’s hatred of them. Yet in Blood Pact, the Pact made use of both a witch as well as a powerful summoning ritual. In Space Marine, Nemeroth possessed considerable warp powers, yet made use of Bloodletters in his army. And in Dawn of War II: Retribution, Khorne saw fit to reward Azariah Kyras, the corrupted chief librarian and chapter master of the Blood Ravens, with daemonhood.

So there’s something to think about as you listen to these songs about murder and violence, although some of it focuses on other aspects of Khorne. At the bottom, you will find a link that connects to a playlist of all of these. Bare in mind a lot of this music is somewhat full of screams, so I’ll mark the music without singing and lyrics with an asterisk (*):

How about that blog?

So things are changing this year for the blog. While writing remains the number one focus, keeping up with general pop culture and entertainment is gaining ground. Expect more retweets, more current topics and more thematic changes.